Lion King was released in 1994 and it won peopleàs hearts becoming the highest-grossing animated film of all time, holding this position until 2003 when the computer-animated movie Finding Nemo came out. Lion king was also the highest-grossing film of Walt Disney Animation Studios, and the highest-grossing film of 1994.

The villain in the movie, a lion named Scar, was based on the character voice actor Jeremy Irons. Initially the actor refused the role as he didn’t feel comfortable transitioning from his previous dramatic role to a comedic one. But eventually he agreed and the animator Andreas Deja actually went and watched the previous movie in which Irons acted, Reversal of Fortune (1990) to observe his acting and incorporated many of Irons's facial traits and tics.